Thank God Al Gore didn't become president of the US — he never would've made the film that's finally got everyone talking about climate change. So now that we're all scared about what could go wrong, and inspired enough to stop it — what should we actually do?

First of all there's no need to quit your job and drag the family off to some mud hut to live on cold water and baked beans. For less than a dollar a day you can cut your greenhouse gas emissions by one third without changing a thing. All it takes is a couple of phone calls, and a few simple decisions whenever you shop.

The big culprits

In greenhouse terms the big culprits you should tackle first up are your car and electricity. Cars burn petrol which generates greenhouse gases. Making electricity mostly involves burning a lot of coal, which also produces carbon dioxide. Between them they account for about 7 of the 25 tonnes — or 28% — of CO2 we each produce in a year, so sorting them out gives great bang-for-environmental-buck.

In the long term we should replace our cars and appliances with longer lasting energy efficient versions, and replace our coal-fired power stations with something more energy efficient, like a three-legged ox on a treadmill. But in the meantime there are some cheap and simple things we can do that will slash their greenhouse impact.

A green car for $40 a year?

If you're average, you probably drive your car around 15,000 km each year. And that adds about four tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere annually. So you could replace that car with a newer, more fuel efficient car, or better still a hybrid car. That will cut your emissions, and within a few years the fuel savings will more than make up for the energy that went into making the new car.

But if you're not ready to fork out the money for a new car, you can make your regular car 'greenhouse neutral' for just $40 each year — that's way less than the cost of a tank of petrol. Just sign up at Greenfleet, a not-for-profit organisation that will plant enough native trees where they're needed to soak up the CO2 that your car will emit in the next year. Your driving still produces greenhouse gas, but throughout their lifetime the trees absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide your car makes in one year.

This kind of off-setting or neutralising is the basis of the carbon trading schemes that are one strategy to try and slow our hurried journey to Al Gore's penultimate scene.

Clean, green power in one phone call

If you're like most Australians, your electricity comes from burning coal to produce steam to drive turbines in giant power generators. So every time you flick a switch, you're effectively shooting another puff of CO2 skywards.

A much better option is to pay a bit more — $5 a week max — and sign up for 100% accredited greenpower.

Nothing changes at your end of the light switch, but now your electricity company has to buy your power from a renewable source, such as wind or solar, instead of from a coal-fired power station.

So you're actually helping to change the way we make electricity, by creating less demand for coal and more demand for renewable energy sources.

If all Australians switched to 100% green power today, our national greenhouse emissions would drop by 30%.

If you've done these two things you've done more than most people, although you'll really be dashing the Australian government's plans to increase our national greenhouse emissions by 8% between 1990 and 2012.

But we haven't even touched on the biggest impact we all have—the one that's hardest to change.

Money money money

It sounds a bit evangelical, but how you spend your money is the big decider when it comes to your greenhouse impact. It's like every dollar you spend is a vote for how you want the world to be (cue harps and home-made banjos).

Most things we buy have been manufactured from other things, then packaged and transported to that shopping centre where you've just spent 3 hours getting a headache from bad lighting. That all takes energy — in greenhouse terms it's called embodied energy. Whether it's a book, a CD, a plasma TV, a pair of sneakers or a house, everything took energy to make and deliver.

Simply buying things that are less energy intensive to make, or take less transport to deliver, or can be re-used so you don't need to replace them as often helps cut your greenhouse impact.

For the big buys

If you're in the market for a car, appliance or home insulation — anything bigger than a dinner plate — try to buy things that last longer and are more energy efficient. They'll pay for themselves in the end, and can have a big effect on your greenhouse impact.

The best way to do this is spend an hour or so online to check out how energy efficient your purchase is and how much cash and CO2 it'll save over its lifetime. There are two terrific sites for doing this:

CHOICE—the online version of the Australian Consumer Association magazine is full of comparisons of cost, energy efficiency and life expectancy that will change the way you shop (and let you feel good about buying the top of the range front-loader washing machine). You have to subscribe to access the really good stuff, but there is a lot of good basic information there for free.

The Australian government's energy rating site does a similar thing for nothing, but isn't quite as user-friendly. You can compare appliances to work out how much you'll save by using a more energy efficient one

The small, everyday buys

When it comes to everyday shopping you don't have to live like a Buddhist, or worse, a self-righteous hippie, to cut your greenhouse impact. One plastic bag doth not a climate disaster make. But try to make your buying habits good ones instead of bad ones:

Buy local produce—less energy went into transporting them

Look for second hand if possible (except for things you need to plug in; you're better off buying a new, more efficient version for electrical goods)

Find things that can be re-used and recycled; they need replacing less often, and mean less waste which produces greenhouse gases as it breaks down

Borrowing money & investing

The biggest loans and investments you make in your life are probably for a house and superannuation. In both cases you're handing over giant slabs of money to financial institutions to invest,so why not have a say in what they do with it?

Super

If your employer offers Fund Choice for their superannuation contribution, and if you're not afraid of a little research, you can elect to have your money put in environmentally sound super funds. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) gives a handy rundown and tips on making a green super choice. For the 'everything you've always wanted to know' about super choice article, go to CHOICE, but again, you have to pay.

The filthy mortgage

There are a few 'green' mortgages offered in Australia right now, and they work in a couple of different ways.

Some give a lower interest rate if the house you're buying scores well energy-wise, and others offer discounts on energy-improving extras, like solar heating and insulation. In the UK at least one mortgage provider will plant trees to offset the household emissions, something you don't need if you have greenpower. The market is small, but a little demand could change all that.

Some final tips

If you've done the big things, and want to earn your merit badge for green living, there are heaps of really basic, practical ways to cut your greenhouse emissions around home. At last count there were about 43 kazillion websites listing these tips. Here are some of them.